Feasibility Evaluation of Function obtained by Product Combination

Abstract

New products are frequently launched in the world. Most of new products can be assumed as combinations of existing products. All of the combinations do not always become seeds of new selling products. Each existing product has its own functions. A new function may be thought up by combining two existing products. If a thought up function is feasible, the combination may be a seed of a new selling product. This paper proposes a feasibility evaluation system of functions obtained by product combination for supporting idea creation of a new product. The system makes phrases representing new functions obtained by product combination. The system evaluates whether each of new functions is feasible or not. The system outputs combinations with feasible functions. The experiments for idea generation showed the following two findings: (1). Ideas of high novelty were obtained from combinations with functions of low feasibility. (2). Ideas of high utility were obtained from combinations with two new feasible functions.